Rose's Reunion
by my-beautiful-idiot
Summary: Rose is reunited with the Doctor, and sets out with him on adventures once more. Things are looking up for them... But will their miraculous reunion continue? Or will it vanish as quickly as it came?
1. Reunion

**So this is it! Rose's miraculous return to the TARDIS!**

**Enjoy. **

**[AUTHOR'S NOTE (11/7/11): I just edited this real quick, make it a tad more "realistic," or, about as realistic as Doctor Who can get.]**

**~Reunion~**

Rose walked along the beach, letting her feet sink into the sand. The bay's chilling air swirled around her, so she pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders. They lived in Norway now, her and John. When the Doctor had left his human copy with Rose, they both decided that the human should be called "John Smith," just to be safe. They didn't intend for it to happen, but over time, the Doctor's secret identity had become his only one, not being called "Doctor" by anyone, save Rose, on occasion.

They lived happily in a nearby town, content with their new life. Still, whenever Rose got the feeling that she was missing something, she strolled away from their village and into the bay. Bad Wolf Bay. The place her life changed forever. The place with the name that bound her to the Doctor. She wasn't sure if the words Bad Wolf worked between her and John Smith, but she liked to believe it. Every time she doubted that, she came to the bay.

She didn't know it, not consciously, but, the reason she went to the bay was not to reassure herself about John, but in the fantasy of hopes that the TARDIS would come back to take her away.

Rose stood on the beach, seeing the spot she'd stood at when she made the decision to watch over the human doctor, instead of begging and pleading with the original Doctor to continue traveling with him. Rose sighed. She walked on, until she stood in the exact spot where she'd been as the Doctor said goodbye forever. She closed her eyes, and imagined she was back in time, making the choice.

What would she do, if she could go back and change it, she wondered? Rose loved John Smith like she'd loved the Doctor he had once been, but she'd always felt something about him was missing.

Remembering the last sound of the TARDIS, Rose sighed, eyes still closed. The TARDIS's engines blared in her memory, so loud she almost wondered if it could really be just a memory. In fact, it was very loud now, too loud to be imaginary. The sound got so vivid, it scared Rose. Startled, she opened her eyes.

Rose was shocked to find herself not on the beach, but inside a large room. With a gasp, she realized that, in many ways it resembled the TARDIS. It had the same general design on the walls, with a slight differentiation, and the same console erected in the middle of the room. However, there were a plethora of differences. The main difference was the man standing at the console.

In the couple seconds it took Rose to comprehend this fact, the man looked up from the console, a look of surprise on his face. The surprise was exchanged for gladness, and the gladness changed into nervousness. He seemed to be sorrowful for some reason.

Rose, afraid, said, "How… How did I get here?"

The man at the console gave her a look of understanding melancholy, and said, walking slowly towards her, "Rose..."

Taking a tiny shift backwards, Rose said, a bit louder, "Who are you?"

The strange man continued down the steps, and answered, "It's me, Rose. I'm the Doctor."

It took a moment for this to register in Rose's mind. And then she understood.

_No! _She thought. _He didn't…_ "Doctor…" she voiced, distressed. "You… you regenerated." _He died, and I wasn't there for him._

The look in her eyes was something of betrayal. Something of sadness, of guilt. The Doctor remembered how Rose had been when she'd seen him regenerate the first time. She was untrusting and angry at him. She didn't believe that, as a new person, he could love her still. The Doctor was scared for that, too. In the final moments of his ninth face, he'd been hoping, praying, that he would still want to be around Rose as a new person. And it had been sheer luck that he hadn't wanted to ditch her the first time he had the chance. The Doctor was lucky to be able to love Rose in the same way for two regenerations. In the final moments before his tenth regeneration, he hadn't been wondering how he'd feel in the next body. He'd already said his goodbyes, he was content with the fact that he might or might not miss Rose. However, the Doctor found, in the moment he saw Rose, that he _had_ missed her. A lot more than he'd planned.

"Rose…" He said. She looked scared and confused, her eyes tearful, her hand pressed to her mouth to contain herself.

Composed, Rose took her hand down, and said, "So… You're still… you."

"Yes, Rose," he said. "You know who I am." He walked closer to her, in a desperate attempt to see the fear in her eyes dissolve into the Rose he'd known and loved. And, as he approached her to where she stood at the door of the TARDIS, they both instantly realized what had just happened.

Not only had Rose been transported into the TARDIS without knowing how, but she'd been transported across universes. Across the void! Her arriving there was more than strange, more than a coincidence… it was a miracle.

This thought occurred to Rose at the very second it occurred to the Doctor. "Doctor…" said Rose, warming up to the idea of a new Doctor. "I've… I've come back! How'd I do that?"

The Doctor mulled this over for a moment, before replying. "Don't know! Hmm… How _did_ this happen?"

Suddenly super-charged with excitement, he raced back to the console, followed by Rose. He examined the monitor, punched a few buttons, pulled a few levers, and read he screen again.

"The TARDIS doesn't even know," he announced. "You… You just showed up here. That's impossible!" He got very close to her, shaking his sonic screwdriver at her nose to make a point. "This should not have happened."

"But how do I get back—"

"Do you want to get back?"

"I've got people back home—"

"It's fine if you want to leave—"

"Do you want me to leave?"

The questions and commentsflew out of the Doctor's and Rose's mouths, almost of their own accord. However, the Doctor was completely honest in his reply.

"Well… No." He grinned sheepishly.

Rose grinned, too. "Good," she said.

With that, Rose rushed into his arms. It had been so long since they'd last shared a hug. Neither one wanted to let go, and when they did, each was smiling giddily at the blessing they've been given.

The Doctor looked into Rose's eyes, and said, "Rose… I know I'm different now… But I'm the same. Really."

"I know." She replied.

Hopefully, the Doctor asked, "So… you're going come with me? You sure? Because, given the time, I'm sure I could find some way to send you back…"

Rose, not completely sure, took time to process it. After all, spontaneous inter-universal travel was kind of a big deal. But not as big of a deal as being back on the TARDIS. With her Doctor.

When she decided, she answered not with direct confirmation, but by running to the console, and turning back to the Doctor, saying "Alright then, New New New Doctor. Where to next?"

The Doctor smiled, and strolled up after her, an air of theatrical fake smugness about him, and said, "Oh, I don't know, how about… everywhere."

Rose smiled. "Next stop, everywhere?"

The Doctor started the TARDIS. "Next stop, everywhere."


	2. A Funny Little Planet

Rose and the Doctor, newly reunited, walked down road on the planet Euthina, a quaint planet in a distant part of the universe, their first stop on their expedition to "everywhere." In the old days, the Doctor had never mentioned this planet, but Rose didn't seem why. It was truly a unique place!

The inhabitants of Euthina were all jolly and hospitable, and seemed to coexist naturally. On this planet, there was no government, no economic monetary system, and no social hierarchy for anyone to follow. The people here were all just happy to be alive, happy to be living by their own set of rules.

"So, Doctor," said Rose, taking a sip of a chocolate-tasting drink they'd each gotten for "a smile and good wishes" at a nearby stall, "Why haven't we been here before?"

The Doctor squinted his eyes, as if he couldn't really remember. "I think it was the freewheeling, unorganized way of life. Anything could happen here."

Rose looked around. "It seems safe enough to me."

They approached a picnic table set up on the side of a little park. The Doctor motioned for Rose to take a set. "A few centuries back, a war broke out, and, since there's no real authority, there was nothing anyone could do but wait for it to die down."

Rose, now seated next to the Doctor, gave him a questioning look, daring him to further explain his apparent previous dislike for this planet. It seemed that any war on this planet would only consist of throwing rocks at one another.

The Doctor defensively laughed, "It could have been dangerous!"

Of course, "dangerous" was one thing this planet was not, with its rolling hills of blue-green grass, and distant, rounded mountains, and quaint villages with small shops set up, not charging money, only good deeds, or advice, or a button for a coat or a doll for a sad daughter. It was such a precious little place.

"It's hardly dangerous now," commented Rose taing another sip. The Doctor also sipped his drink, and, when he brought his cup down from his lips, a layer of foam lingered across his lip, giving him a big brown mustache.

Laughing, Rose said, "Nice mustache."

The Doctor wiped his face, saying, "Mustaches are cool."

"As are bowties, I presume?"

The Doctor, smiling, straightened his bowtie, and replied, "You got that right."

"You know what, Doctor? I think I figured it out!" cried Rose in excitement.

"Figured what out?"

"The thing that's different about you." Explained Rose. "You play by your own rules. You don't care about what's 'normal,' you just want to enjoy yourself!"

"Yeah, I guess…" The Doctor hadn't noticed anything like that about him, but he let Rose continue.

"The bowtie, this planet… your taste in food…" 

"There's nothing wrong with my taste in food!" he defended.

"You nearly gave the woman at that stall a heart attack, asking for custard and.. what was it?"

The Doctor blushed. "Fish fingers."

"Fish fingers and custard! Where'd you get that idea from?"

"I, erm, well…" The Doctor stuttered, unsure about how Rose would feel about his travels with Amy. In his defense, he had dropped Amy and Rory off just after their wedding, but he didn't want Rose to feel replaced again.

"I met a little girl with a crack in her wall…" The Doctor related his story about Prisoner Zero, heavily pushing the fact that he and Amy were _best friends_, and that her _husband, Rory, _was just as much fun, too. When his story was done, Rose looked only a bit put-off.

"You ok, then?" he asked, concerned.

Rose hesitated, then decided she was alright. After all, what else would theDoctor have done? Waited anxiously for her return? No, she was glad he had made friends to travel with, and said, "Yes. I'm perfectly alright. You're good, too." She said, meaning "It's alright, I'm not angry with you."

Frowning, the Doctor asked, "Am I better? Than I was before, I mean"

Rose wasn't sure. She liked this doctor a lot, but, other than that, she hadn't really spent time comparing him to the other two versions she'd known. Rose just smiled, and nodded shyly. Then, not wanting to make a big deal about things just yet, added jokingly, "Apart from the bowtie!"

As they sat at the table, laughing about mustaches and bowties, and Norway and Euthina, the Doctor notices many Euthinan children on the other end of the park. They were playing a game with a ball. It seemed to the Doctor, that the children were split up into two teams, each team had a tree that was their designated goal post. The object of the game was to kick the ball to a player of the same team that was perched in the tree.

Rose and the Doctor watched the children playing, and it was, in a word, adorable. Euthinan children all had brilliant blue eyes, pinkish skin, and small, round little bodies. To see them playing the game was rather like watching someone take a bag of beach balls and set it in front of a high-powered fan. It looked as though it was good fun, until one child accidentally tripped another one.

He fell to the ground, and began to cry loudly, until a nearby adult came up to him. The adult inspected his knee, which was apparently scraped, but not damaged badly. The other children gathered round, wanting to resume the game as soon as their fallen comrade had been deemed healthy to play. The boy got up, and the Doctor and Rose both let out a sigh of relief. However, the children didn't resume the game, as the travelers had hoped. Instead, the one who had accidentally tripped him walked over to him, head hung down, as if he was guilty. The Doctor expected for the child to apologize to the other, but, to his horror, the child who'd been tripped simply walked to the one who'd tripped him, and gave him a firm shove, sending him flying onto the ground. He picked himself up, dusted himself off, and the children resumed play, as if nothing had even happened at all.

"What was that all about?" asked Rose, slightly perturbed by this behavior.

"Oh…" said the Doctor. "I remember."

"Remember what?" Rose prodded.

"I remember," said the Doctor, "What I didn't like about this place. Because they have no authority, there is no punishment for people who do bad things. It's become a sort of unspoken law, now, for people to receive compensation for things they do, even if its an accident."

"So that's what that was? The boy got tripped and demanded compensation?" The Doctor nodded, and Rose howled, "Well that's no way to run a community!"

"It's been working for them, I suppose."

"Well, I don't like it."

The Doctor looked at her. "That's the same old Rose." He smiled broadly.

She smiled back, "Hey, I'm not the one who's been changing!"

"Yeah… I suppose you're right…" he said. "I'm just… I'm just really glad to have you back.

"Me too," said Rose with a grin. "I guess we really do belong together."

The Doctor, realizing that statement was undoubtedly true, raised his chocolate-drink in a toast, and said, "To belonging together."

Rose raised her glass to meet his, and echoed, "To belonging together."


	3. Mr Bumble

Rose and the Doctor sat for another hour after finishing their drinks, talking the day into sunset. The children had long since finished their game, and the play park was bathed in pure orange light. As the sun sank ever lower behind the trees of Euthina, the temperature dropped quickly.

Rose shivered, and slid across to sit closer to the Doctor. She looked into the sky, and noticed that, although the sky was dark enough to show any stars that were there, there were none to speak of. Fearing for the worst, Rose was about to shout for the Doctor to notice the starless sky, when, as if on cue, a breeze swept over them, and, as the wind swirled through the sky, the stars glittered out, as if being discovered by the wind.

Seeing Rose notice this, the Doctor explained, "It's an atmospheric agitation. Every day, dust particles build up in the sky, and, since there isn't much wind, the dust just lingers in the atmosphere. But at sunset, the temperature and pressure changes, causing gusts of wind to blow away the dust, revealing the stars." Rose looked at him in surprise and awe. Upon further inspection, she did see what he meant. The wind spiraled the sky, as though it was water washing over a muddy stone, revealing that it was actually diamond. The Doctor continued. "It's the locals' favorite time of day. See?"

Rose turned around, to see, in the doors and windows of houses and huts along the street, faces of Euthinans peering out into the sky, smiling at the stars.

"That's perfectly beautiful," said Rose. "Apart from their obsession with compensation, this place is so wonderful! Not much can go wrong here."

Shifting in his set, the Doctor replied carefully, "Don't be so sure…" He arose from the table and stepped a few feet away, scanning the woods and streets, as if in thought.

"What is it, Doctor? What's wrong?" asked Rose from her seat.

Turing back to Rose the Doctor replied, "There's a reason I brought you here. I received a distress signal from someone on this planet; right after you came aboard the TARDIS. It wasn't very specific; it was simply a security measure, sending out a signal to whoever is around. I figured I'd check it out. Trouble is the signal didn't say where on his planet it came from, or who sent it."

"So," said Rose, standing up, "Why don't we ask the locals? One of them is bound to know."

The Doctor looked over Rose's shoulder, and said, "Something tells me that the locals are going to tell us quite soon."

Rose followed his line of sight, and saw an old man hobbling quite swiftly for his age over to Rose and the Doctor.

"Please," the man huffed, as he approached the duo, "Have you seen my grandson? He was playing in the park today, and never came home…" The man looked about nervously.

"Sir, it's only just dark," said Rose, sweetly, "He's probably out with his friends."

"Oh, no…" said the man, distraught, "Not with what's been happening recently… the vanishings…" He looked quickly to the Doctor and Rose, said, "Bless you both" and then, hobbled away, quickly as he'd come.

The Doctor and his companion exchanged a quick look, and then hurried after the man.

"Wait" cried the Doctor, catching up to him quickly. The man, however, kept on walking, but gestured for them to follow, and talk along the way to wherever he was going in such a hurry.

"Sir," said Rose, slightly breathless with their fast pace, "What has been going on here."

"Yes," chimed the Doctor, not out of breath at all, "What are these 'vanishings,' as you call them?"

The man stopped, turned around, and said to them, "Hush. It's not safe. Talk in here." He gestured to a doorway, closed off by a leather curtain. The man rushed through the threshold, and, with a nervous glance at Rose, the Doctor followed, with Rose quickly behind him.

Inside the doorframe, they found a small sitting room, set next to a kitchen with a table and couch on one side of the room, and a stove and sink on the other side. The old man was in the kitchen area, busying himself with something in a cupboard.

"Take a seat, then," he said solemnly.

The man seemed to be preparing some sort of food, which was a simple custom on Euthina.

Wanting to be congenial, Rose called to him, "Lovely home," as she and the Doctor each sat down on the old couch.

"It's not much," grunted the man, as he walked over with a tray of some red fruit, "but it's enough." The man set the tray on the table, pulled up a chair for himself, and said. "So, then. I'm Artie. Artie Bumble. But I'm usually just called 'Mr. Bumble.' Short and sweet." Despite his hospitable disposition, Mr. Bumble's face and voice had not gotten any less dreary than when he'd rushed up to them in the park.

"This is Rose Tyler," said the Doctor, "and I'm the Doctor."

Nodding, Mr. Bumble continued, "You're not from here, are you?"

"No," the Doctor confirmed. "We're not."

"We get a lot of visitors to Euthina. We're a welcoming people. People like to come here. But few care about our lives and events." The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, not sure how to reply to that. Mr. Bumble went on. "However, you two are different. When I asked about my grandson, you didn't know, so I left. But you followed me. There's only one explanation." He sighed. "You must have gotten my message."

"Or, we're just nice," muttered Rose.

Ignoring Rose, and eager to acquire some information, the Doctor asked, "Your distress signal? That was you?"

With a sigh, the old man replied, "Yes, it was. People here aren't much help with the vanishings. I needed outside assistance."

"And we're here to help, Mr. Bumble," said Rose.

"But you need to tell us, what are these vanishings?" added the Doctor.

Mr. Bumble sighed again. He said, gravely. "It's been happening for years now, but I never believed it. When I was a young boy, they didn't happen. But now… Children… are disappearing from the parks… Women being snatched up off of the streets… Men who never return from work…" He looked at the Doctor, a pitiful pleading look in his eyes, "Nobody knows where they went! It doesn't happen every day, so people usually just mourn and move on… But my grandson… Little Robby…" Mr. Bumble held his head in his shaking hands.

"Oh, Mr. Bumble…" said the Doctor, comforting him, "We'll help you find your grandson."

Mr. Bumble looked into the Doctor's eyes, his own containing tears. "Oh, but how! How can you think to help?"

"Trust me," came the reply, along with a comforting hand placed on Mr. Bumble's shoulder. "I'm the Doctor."


	4. Many Adorable, Strangely Named People

The first thing Mr. Bumble did, was cheer up significantly. After shaking the Doctor's and Rose's hands, he hurriedly ran to his telephone, muttering about "hope at last," and dialed a number.

While he was in his excited frenzy, the Doctor and Rose shared a moment of wonder, at how this man, who so gravely brought them to his house for the gravest reasons, perked up so quickly at the thought of help.

At the phone, Mr. Bumble was chatting away at a hundred miles a minute. "Yes! It's Bumble! Mr. Bumble! Yes, yes! They've gotten my signal—yes. Yes. The distress signal—no I'm not lying! Listen—come over! They're going to help." He smiled at the Doctor and Rose, and dialed another number.

"Yes? Hello? It's Bumble. Mr. Bumble! Yes…. Yeah? I've got great news, they've gotten my distress signal—no I'm not lying!"

As this was going on, Rose turned to the Doctor, "Doctor, what do you think is going on? With these… vanishings."

He shook his head. "No idea. Somebody needs these people for some reason. We're going to have to find out."

After several minutes and countless phone calls, Mr. Bumble raced back over to the Doctor and Rose. "Oh, good news! I've called in some friends. We've been trying to find out what these Vanishings are for years! But we're only humble Euthinans… But a few of us banded together to discover the secrets of the vanishings! Of course, we've failed miserably. But… but you're here now! And you can help us!"

Just as he finished speaking, the doorframe rattled, and a middle-aged Euthinan woman entered, carrying a good-sized bucket.

"Hello!" she said, "You must be the help that old Bumble spoke about on the phone!"

"Yes," said Rose with a nervous smile, "I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor?"

"I'm—oh, Doctor _who_?" she asked.

"No, no. Just 'the Doctor.'"

With a shrug, the woman continued, "I'm Tingo!"

"If you don't mind me asking, Tingo," said Rose. "What's with the…" She gestured to Tingo's bucket.

"Oh, I always just have this bucket—" Tingo couldn't finish, for another person walked through the door, enveloping Tingo and Bumble in a jolly embrace, before turning to the Doctor and Rose for introductions.

"Good to meet you," he said to the Doctor and Rose. "I'm Lollip."

Afer Lollip, came a couple, Zool and Winson, and a young woman named Elish.

However, the team was not complete.

"Where's Marigolf?" asked Elish, after she introduced herself. "He should be here by now, shouldn't he?"

"Risht!" cried Zool. "He lives closest."

Lollip added, "He should have been here first!"

"You're right!" added Mr. Bumble, "I called him before I called any of you. He should have been here ages ago…"

The hopeful sense quickly vanished, as worry spread over the group.

"I'll go look for him," offered Rose, wanting to help these pitiful creatures.

"Oh, thank you, Miss," said Mr. Bumble, "But I'm afraid I can't let you go out there alone."

"I'll accompany her!" said Tingo. "There's safety in numbers."

"Right," said Rose, moving towards the door with Tingo, "We'll be back in a bit – " The Doctor grabbed her hand, stopping her, and turning her to face him.

"Rose," said the Doctor quietly, "You don't have to o. It might be dangerous."

"If there's one thing I've learned with you, it's that sometimes, risks are necessary. Isn't that right, Doctor?"

"Yes…" he said hesitantly, "I suppose you're right." Rose turned to walk away, but not before the Doctor added, "Just… be safe."

Rose looked back at him for a moment, then gave him a quick hug, before leaving with Tingo and her bucket, looking for Marigolf, the Vanished Euthinan.


	5. Stories

The Doctor looked at the doorway for a moment after Rose and Tingo had disappeared. He desperately wanted to call her back, to keep Rose with him for one more minute. But he needed to help Mr. Bumble and the rest, so he swallowed his fear and got back to business.

Rose, however, couldn't swallow her fear so easily. For, although she wasn't afraid at all, she had a sense of unease. Not quite fear, but the lack of confidence. As if something was very strange.

"So," said Rose, "Which way is Marigolf's house?"

Tingo looked down the street. "This way." She led Rose to the left, leading the way at a rather fast pace.

"Does everybody on this planet run everywhere?" she asked, hurrying after Tingo.

However, Tingo didn't reply, she just kept on walking. When they came to a turn, they went right, then scurried along the path, away from Bumble's place. She kept on in that way, silently leading, hunched over, clutching her strange bucket, Rose barely keeping up.

In Mr. Bumble's house, things were going at a slower pace.

"So," said the Doctor, clapping his hands, as the little gang gathered around in a circle about the table, "Tell me what you all know."

"Well," said Mr. Bumble, "The first Vanishing happened years ago, when I was a still young man. The goat farmer down in Bloxinham suddenly disappeared. His goat-gate was open and everything."

"We had goats roaming about the village for months," added Lollip.

"Yes, when did it become a pattern. How did you become involved?" asked the Doctor.

"Well," said Zool, "It started for us when my sister Vanished. We were going to go to the pond to feed sparrows. She just had her first child, and needed to unwind. I waited there for hours, until it became apparent that she wasn't coming…" Zool broke off, not wanting to cry.

Winson placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Zool and I searched, of course. For months, we'd both go down to the pond. But, she was never there. Or anywhere."

"And then there was me," said Lollip. "My wife Vanished three years ago. One minute, she was in my kitchen, baking cookies. Then, she was gone. My grandchildren Vanished in the following months. Kitty and Monald. My grandchildren. And Flintie. My poor Flintie…"

"I'd known Lollip for years, so we decided to help him search," Winson said, "That was how the group really got started. Zool, Lollip, and I would go out and look for the Vanished people."

"And why didn't anybody else get involved? Anyone without a victim they directly knew?" questioned the Doctor.

"Well, why would they? We wouldn't want anybody to worry, especially when there's so little hope. Causing people undeserved stress is a great offense!" replied Zool.

"Then," said Mr. Bumble, wanting to continue the tale, "My oldest granddaughter didn't come back from a lesson down by the walnut grove over Mount Lettle. The other students returned on time, but she didn't. I immediately went to find Zool and Winson, in hopes that they could help. She came back the next morning, of course. She'd only gotten lost, and stayed with someone in the mountains, but, by then, I was already involved with these fine folks."

"Next, was my father," said Ellish, quietly. "He worked down at the mines. He and three other workers suddenly disappeared, mid-shift. Nobody knew how. Or why. Or where. Just in the mines. Nobody's seen them since."

The Doctor sensed that Ellish was very depressed by this. "Oh, that's very…"

But Ellish went on. "And then… Charlipoon. Vanished just a month ago. He was so sweet. We were going to be married… Just last week was when we were to be married… But… He's – he's gone! Vanished forever." She broke of, her head in her hands.

"Oh…" said the Doctor. "Nothing's gone forever, Ellish. You've all lost a great deal from these Vanishings, and I promise that I will help in any way I can," but he still hadn't heard one story, "But, one thing I don't get. Where did Tingo come in?"

"Oh," said Bumble, looking to the others for help, "She was just… concerned. She volunteered to help us out with our research, just after the ordeal with my granddaughter. Such a nice person, Tingo."

After a moment's thought, the Doctor said, "And, what's with her bucket? What is in it?"

"Oh, sometimes it's cookies!" said Ellish. "But she never gives them out."

"Or an apple!" added Lollip, fondly. "But she always saves it for later. She's so healthy!"

"Or," said Winson, "her knitting. She brings it with her, just in case there's time."

"So, you've seen inside it, then?"

"Well… no," said Bumble, "She'd tell us what was inside."

"So," said the Doctor, fear coming to his mind as things started clicking. "Tingo involves herself in your worries, when nobody else on this planet would have. She has a mysterious bucket which nobody knows what's inside. And she is the first to arrive, when Marigolf would have come at around the same moment."

After a moment of silence, the Doctor gave the Euthinans a meaningful look. A suspicious look.

With a gasp, Bumble said, "No. You don't mean…"

"Of course not!" said Ellish, sternly, "Not our Tingo."

The Doctor pities them all. The Euthinans were like children. Innocent, trusting children. The Doctor had lived too long to be that trusting. The Euthinans weren't.

"But he has a point…" commented Lollip.

"And it is awful peculiar…" added Zool.

"I don't believe that Tingo would be involved in such a thing," said Winson.

"Nor do I," cried Ellish. "This 'Doctor' is talking nonsense!"

"Ellish. He's trying to help!" shouted Zool.

Then, they erupted into accusations, causations, confusions, confessions, confections, conflictions, contortions, and conjunctions.

"It's been Tingo all along!"

"Don't believe it!"

"It's the only possibility!"

"Why would she do such a thing?"

"She's done nothing!"

After a good bout of shouting, in which all the Euthinans got more an more upset, Ellish suddenly stood up, and screamed, "SHUT UP! Can't you see? It's him! It's the Doctor! He's turning us against each other, all so that Rose can go out there with Tingo! They're the vanishers, not Tingo!"

The gang was silent, contemplating this possibility, as the Doctor's feeling of dread grew.

"They show up the night Robit disappears, then Marigolf…" said Bumble.

"And, come to think of it, they do have very strange names…" added Winson.

"No. It's not me," the Doctor defended, almost bewildered at the turn of conversation.

\

"It's all his fault!" cried Ellish, pointing a finger at the Doctor.

"No, you've got it all wrong! I'm here to help you!" he cried, backing the chair up as the others did the same.

"He's to blame!" she shouted.

"You've lost a lot from this, I get it. You're upset, and you're angry. But you don't have to blame me!" he cried, backing towards the door.

"And now that Rose girl is out alone with our Tingo!" Ellish wailed.

But the Doctor's fear at being ripped to shreds by sad, angry, adorable aliens suddenly turned into a different fear. Things suddenly made sense in his head. And he immediately cursed himself for bringing Rose to this planet. He turned and bolted from the house.

Because Rose _was_ out with Tingo. But Tingo wasn't the one in danger.

Rose was.


	6. Vanished

At last, Tingo stopped. Rose caught up to her a moment later, wheezing and panting ever so slightly. However, Rose was confused.

"I thought we were going to look for Marigolf," she said.

However, they'd gone in circles, twisting and curving, until Rose was not only lost, but sure that they weren't in the right place. In fact, they weren't even in the resident village anymore. They were just outside it, so that, if Rose wanted to, she could have easily run backwards into town, but was just far enough to be outside the community.

"There's no need for any of that," responded Tingo, much too calmly.

"What do you mean?" asked Rose, her nerves growing, inching back towards the village.

Tingo fingered at her bucket. "I know where he is."

"Wha – What do you mean?" replied Rose.

"I mean," Tingo reached her a hand into her bucket, "this." She pulled, out of the bucket, a small remote, with a number of strange buttons lights.

"Tingo," cried Rose, "What is that thing!" Tingo didn't respond, but pressed a button on the remote. She smiled a sinister smile, and Rose took a step backwards, her heart sinking to her stomach.

"Rose!"

Rose and Tingo looked back in the direction of the town, where they saw the Doctor, bowtie fluttering, running full speed towards them. His hair, waving madly in the breeze, eyes wide, shifting from Rose to Tingo. The five Euthinans chasing him just as madly.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rose called. She turned to run to him, desperate to find the safety that she hoped being with the Doctor would bring, but found that, strangely, she couldn't. Her feet would simply not move. She looked down at them, panic rising in her chest.

The ground around her feet seemed to be moving. It was shifting and thrashing, spewing up dust and pebbles. It simmered more and more wildly, and Rose felt the sensation that she was falling. In fact, she wasn't falling, but sinking. However, she was sinking very, very quickly, her feet already absorbed by the dirt.

"Doctor, help!" she shouted, trying to wrench her feet free as the Doctor neared her. "It's Tingo!"

But the Doctor couldn't think about Tingo, who was standing a few feet away, smiling, and seemingly relaxed. Not when Rose was literally slipping out of sight.

"Rose, hold on!" he cried, as Rose's legs completely disappeared under the earth. _I can't lose her again!_ He screamed in his head.

Behind the Doctor, Mr. Bumble, Lollip, Ellish, Winson, and Zool were gaining, shouting curses at the Doctor, not realizing what was happening. Lollip was a great deal ahead of the others, just behind the Doctor. He reached out, and grabbed the Time Lord by his arm, pulling him to a halt.

The struggle didn't last long, though. With a shove, Lollip found himself spun around, and the Doctor resumed his mad dash for Rose. However, the moments that Lollip had stalled the Doctor, Rose continued to sink into the ground. By the time the Doctor reached Rose, she was all but head and shoulders, one arm stretched out for the Doctor.

"Doctor!" She called, as her mouth sank into soil.

"Rose, no!" he cried, as he reached her, grasping the hand that still remained above ground. Rose's pleading eyes closed and vanished into the ground. Her hand gripped the Doctor's with intense ferocity, but kept its quick descent.

For a moment, the Doctor thought he was winning the fight against the ground. Rose's hand stalled for a moment, clamped onto the Doctor's refusing to let go. Then, after that one blazing moment of hope, it was tugged free, and slipped out of sight. The ground moved for a moment after, then was still. Completely still.

"Rose…" whispered the Doctor, stunned for a moment.

The Euthinans had caught up to the Doctor; however, they also made it in time to see Rose vanish under the ground. This made them pause long enough to witness what happened next.

"You," says the Doctor, sadness turning into anger. He pointed his finger at Tingo, who still stood with a smile on her face. "It was you all along! What have you done with Rose? Tell me where she is _right now_!"

But Tingo didn't reply. She just laughed merrily, and pressed a different button on the remote. In an instant, the ground rumbled beneath her feet.

"Ta-ta, Time Lord," she said. Then, she sunk into the ground, at a much faster pace. A more deliberate pace, as if she wanted to go underground. The Doctor couldn't even race forward to kick her as she descended, before she continued into the ground.

The Doctor, rage becoming agony, stomped on the ground where Tingo was, and shouted at the sky. She screamed his fury and pain to the full Euthinan moon, cursing the sky. But he wasn't alone.

He was no longer fearful of the Euthinan gang. They had seen Rose vanish. They'd seen the look on Tingo's face as she jumped into the ground. Even though they were like children, even a child could understand that they were wrong about the Doctor.

The Doctor turned to face them, tears brimming on his eyes. But he refused to let them spill over. Instead, he turned his back on them, and knelt down, to stare at the patch of earth where Rose had been. It looked perfectly normal. No mark, or color, or anything to show what had happened there. It was as if Rose had simply disappeared.

Vanished.


	7. A Chapter Where Doctor Thinks a Lot

Rose blinked her eyes open. Her head spun and her heart pounded, and she knew that she must've been unconscious for a short while. She was lying on her back, and had a lonely view of a grey, stone ceiling with a small hatch in the middle. Rose huffed out a breath, then shakily sat up, groggy and dazed.

The room she was in was more of a cell. In fact, it _was _a cell. Four stone walls surrounded her on all sides, with no entrances or exits, save the hatch at the top. On one wall was a small metal bunk; on the other wall were a toilet and a sink. The floor was made of stone, but had a thick layer of dirt on it.

Standing on weak legs, Rose called out, "Hello?"

No reply. Only silence.

She shouted again. "Is there anyone up there?"

Her only reply was a dull thud on the wall next to her. She turned her head at the wall. The thud sounded again, accompanied with a voice, talking too quietly to hear.

Rose pressed her ear to the wall. "Hello?" she called out.

"Mum? Is that you?" The voice on the other side of the wall was that of a child. A young boy.

"No," Rose replied. "No, I'm not your mum. I'm Rose."

"I'm Robbit, ma'am," came the reply.

_Robbit…_ thought Rose. "Do you happen to go by 'Robby?'"

"Yes, ma'am. I do," he said through the wall.

"Then, Robby, don't worry. I have a friend, he's called 'the Doctor.' He's up right now working with your grandfather –"

"— Grandad Bumble!"

"And I swear, they will get us out of here." She looked around her little cell. "Wherever 'here' is…"

Up above ground, the Doctor had managed to compose himself, and led the Euthinans back to Bumble's cottage without a word. He didn't even tell them to follow. He simple turned around, gave each in turn a stern look, and shoved past them, walking briskly back into the village.

When they got back to the house, the Doctor sat at the table, and waited patiently for the others to catch up.

When they were all there, he stood up, and said to them, "Alright. Now the work begins."

They all just stared at him, looking fascinated and fearful at the same time. It seemed that they were all waiting for something, shifting back and forth, looking nervously at each other.

"Well," he shouted, "What are doing just looking at me, all wide-eyed and stupefied!"

"It's just…" began Zool, "We were wrong. About Tingo and about you."

"Aren't you upset with us?" asked Ellish, voice thick with guilty tears.

"Oh, I am not 'upset,'" replied the Doctor, voice rising. "I am _angry._ I am _livid. _I am far, _far_ beyond just 'upset,' thank you very much, or, rather, thank you not at all!"

"We're… we're sorry," whispered Lollip.

"You'd better be. If it weren't for you I might have saved Rose." The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, trying to stay in the present, and not imagine that terrifying moment, as Rose's hand slipped under the ground… He snapped his eyes open. "But it's not your fault. Not entirely. It was Tingo."

"All along…" commented Winson. "Who knew?"

"I did, and you said I was a liar." Said the Doctor, curtly. "But you're all the help I've got now. You lot have been studying and tracking these Vanishings for years now, haven't you?"

"Well, sort of," said Mr. Bumble. "We've kept track of missing people… and where they lived… where they were last seen."

"We have it marked on maps, if that'd help," offered Zool.

"Yes, let me see," said the Doctor, his temper simmering down a bit.

Zool hopped up from the table, and raced into a back room. She returned with three folded-up, large pieces of paper, on which identical maps, each marked with a different color were printed. They were old, some houses had to be added in by hand, but they were all very accurate. Each mad depicted the village they were currently in, along with a good-sized town just to the south, and another little settlement to the west. Across the top of each map was scribbled the words _Talia Valley._

"Talia Valley," said Mr. Bumble. "That's where we live.

He gazed at the maps. The one labeled with blue dots read _Homes of the Vanished. _The second one, which had red spots all over it, was _Last Places the Vanished Were Seen_. The third said _Places where the Vanished should have Been upon Their Vanishing, _and was covered in yellow marks_._

The Doctor poured over the first map. Most of the blue dots were in the current village, or the town. Hardly any were from the little community. The Doctor also noticed that the second map, of the last places people were seen, most of the dots were on roads, main traveling roads, not backstreets or byways. On the third map, of destinations, the Doctor saw that there was absolutely no correlation. Dots were scattered all over.

"Oh, great…" mumbled the Doctor, wondering how he was to use this information.

But then he noticed, beyond the colorful dots, plotting out data points, the roads. Each village had it's own set of roads (foot-roads, of course, as the Euthinans had no vehicles to speak of). But each place also had one large path that lead away from it, to a center-point, between all the villages. A spot where three roads met, connected all three towns of the valley.

"If it's local…" he muttered, as an idea latched onto his mind. "Do Vanishings only happen in the valley?"

Winson replied, "As far as we know. Both Lollip and Zool have family on the other side of the mountain, and they haven't had a single person Vanish."

And then, the Doctor understood. Because, whoever was doing the Vanishing was clever. Clever enough to not want to draw too much attention to the dozens of people they were kidnapping. In the Doctor's mind, he drew lines connecting the dots from the _Homes of the Vanished _map to the dots on the_ Places where The Vanished Should Have Been Upon Vanishing _map. And, just as the Doctor suspected, they all met in one place: the center meeting-point of the roads.

Which, as it so happens, was exactly where Rose had been taken.

He looked up and shouted, "It's _so _local! Perfect!"

"What's so good about this?" asked Ellish.

"It's a local scheme. Underground. That means that it's going to use a semi-terraneous controlled dissipater field, which lacks a—"

"Oh, skip to the end!" prompted Mr. Bumble.

With a frustrated sigh, he said, "It's a small underground area, which doesn't need a sustainable gravity-check. That makes it easier to trick."

"Trick?" voiced Zool.

"Yes, Zool," said the Doctor, rising and walking towards the door. "Trick."


	8. At McKendree Industries

After talking with Robbit, trying to get any information as to their whereabouts (he had none), Rose turned to the wall opposite him. She pressed her head against it, and called out.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Hello? Hello?" came a panicked reply. "Whose there?"

"Don't worry," replied Rose, "I'm Rose. I'm a friend."

"I'm called Marigolf," he said, giving Rose a feeling of hope and dread at the same time. "Do you know where we are? I was just walking down the road, when suddenly my friend came up to me and… and I woke up here."

Catching her attention even further, Rose replied, "This 'friend,' was her name 'Tingo?'"

"Yes! Yes, that's her!" the concern in his voice broke Rose's heart. "Is she safe? Did they get her, too?"

Rose sighed and replied, "I'm sorry. But she was no friend."

"What do you mean?"

"I think…" said Rose, remembering what happened to her before waking up in the cell, "I think she brought you here. It's her fault."

There was a pause, followed by Marigolf's loud, though muffled, voice. "What?" he shouted. "Not Tingo! She's not the fiend!"

"Listen," called Rose, frustrated, "I don't have time to argue. Just tell me, do you know where we are?"

But the man on the other side of the wall continued to scream at the defense of Tingo, not listening to Rose's protestations and calls for reasonability. He was simply in denial, as his friends had been before, when the Doctor had accused Tingo.

"Calm down, Marigolf!" ordered Rose. And she thought, for a moment, that he'd decided to settle hiself down and listen, for his cries suddenly cut off. But then they were replaced by new cries. Not of anger, but of fear.

"No, leave me alone!" But he was no longer talking to Rose, but someone in the room.

"Marigolf?" shouted Rose, "Are you alright?"

"Tingo? What…What is this!"

"Are you alright, I said!" Rose screamed, wondering desperately what was going on.

But Marigolf spoke no more. Instead, there was a loud banging noise, as Marigolf must have crashed himself into the wall. He screamed, echoing even through the stone wall, and there was another loud bang. Then it was quiet.

And Marigolf was gone.

But the Doctor was only just getting started. As soon as things clicked in his mind, he left from the house, and started back out the way they'd just been. He hurried to explain his theory to the others, but, his mind being far more complex than theirs, they didn't comprehend much.

And, when they got to the place where Rose and Tingo had left, they couldn't think as the Doctor looked at them, said a rather-too-fond goodbye, pressed a button on his sonic screwdriver, and fell quickly into the earth. He couldn't control his descent, so he just plummeted right through.

The reason he didn't chase after Rose the second she was gone, was because he wasn't sure the extent of his actions. If Vanishings had been happening all over, then there would have been a huge underground space, help up by a gravity field. To break through the earth would have collapsed the field, harming the planet itself. But once he knew that he could safely trip the system… He knew what he had to do, and he did it, because that's just the kind of person the Doctor always had been, when it came to Rose.

Rose, at the time, was just processing what had happened to Marigolf, when she heard voices talking – no, yelling – up above her, drifting through the hatch in the ceiling.

"She's a what?" the voice was that of a man.

"She may be human, but her hair is sort of… yellow…" Rose recognized this voice. It was Tingo.

"Humans can have yellow hair, you dumb twit."

"What? No they can't!"

"Yes, actually, they CAN, so shut up."

"But I…"

"Shut up!"

The conversation was confusing and scaring Rose all at the same time. But then, after more shouting, which Rose couldn't quite make out the words, the hatch opened up, but, instead of a person coming down, a small, round camera was lowered down on a metal length. It swiveled around, until it rested on Rose.

"Hello," an ironically pleasant voice said, "I am Cell Moderator Number 8."

"Erm… Hello."

"Please state your name." Rose could imagine the voice belonging to a fairy, it was so sweet.

"Rose Tyler…" she replied slowly.

"Rose Tyler. Confirmed. Pease state your species."

Rose steadied herself, and answered strongly. "Human."

"Human. Confirmed. Physical condition…" A red light, like a bar code scanner, blasted out from the ball, and washed over Rose for a brief moment, before the ball said, "Healthy. Thin. Confirmed."

Then, the ball withdrew into the ceiling. The panel whirred mechanically, then lowered again, this time, transporting the man who's voice Rose had heard.

"So," he said, "A human, is it?"

The man was rather tall, with generally pointy figures: his clean-pressed grey suit, his piercing blue eyes, his sharp nose. Even his hair, which was black with the slightest grey tinge, managed to look both daunting and fun at the same time, cut short, and business-looking.

Rose stepped into the corner of her cell. "Yes." She replied, hoping to sound confident.

"Lovely to meet you, Rose. I'm Lucas McKendree," he stepped off the platform, and walked to Rose, adding, "Also a human."

She looked away defiantly.

"It's only a hand," he said, with a slight edge to his voice. "It won't bite."

Rose cautiously took his hand, not wanting to make a further enemy out of this man, and he led her onto the platform, which then ascended up through the ceiling.

Although she expected to come out above ground, she found herself in a bright hallway, with at least ten other hatches up and down the floor in two aisles, leading to other under-underground cells. Probably with more vanished Euthinans, Rose gathered.

Lucas McKendree led Rose out of the little hallway, and into a much larger room. The room that made Rose's heard drop to her stomach.

At one end of the room, a great big computer sat, with a couple people, humans, by the looks of it, working at it, wearing grew outfits, as Lucas was. In the middle, was a group of tables, with scientists standing at it, each working diligently on it. Elsewhere around the room, desks stood, with business people working at it. Rose was slightly distraught by this, because it looked all so normal.

But what stood out was what sat at the end of the large hall. For, at the far end, a gigantic cage sat. And, inside the cage, a great beast. Big, grey, with massive fangs and amazing claws. It stared around the room with big black eyes. It seemed dangerous, but calm at the moment.

"Welcome to my project, Rosie," said Lucas, leading Rose through the aisles of tables and computers.

"Don't call me that."

"Well, then… Rose," Lucas replied, only slightly put-off.

"What's your project, then?" asked Rose, trying to sound interested, to gain more information. It's what the Doctor would want her to do, she thought.

He strolled ahead, and gestured to the cage. "This is my project. The Wolf."

This caught Rose's attention. "That's not a wolf, though. Is it?" It was much too big to be a real wolf.

Lucas laughed and continued. "Not a real wolf. An alien. But wolf enough. We at McKendree Industries call him the Wolf. The Big, Bad Wolf, he is."

Rose turned in surprise. "The Bad Wolf?" she replied, shakily. This was not a coincidence. Of course, that was always a possibility, but too many impossible things were happening lately for there to be any more coincidences.

"No, no. Just the Wolf, he's called," said Lucas.

"So… what do you need me for, then? I mean, why did you take such interest in me being a human?" she asked, growing more horrified by the second.

"Well, there aren't many humans around here. Sure, three or four on staff. The rest are Euthina's finest, dedicated to furthering our cause. I it's good having more human company. To understand what we're doing. To understand the glory. To help us continue on. Euthinans do their work well, but they don't quite think big enough. Humans do, though."

"So," she replied, "You want me to be… some sort of cheerleader for you?" She set her hands on her hips, but Lucas only laughed.

"More or less."

Rose sighed and huffed in disgust.

"What do you think of the Wolf, Rose," Lucas said, in a hushed voice. "Look at him. So rough on the outside, but inside… thousands of years of knowledge… So much we can learn…" He checked his watch, and said, "Oh, and it looks like you'll get to see him in action."

A voice similar to the Cell Moderator's rang out in the room. "Monthly Feeding Session. Confirm Communication. Confirmed. Proceed."

Then, from the wall next to the cage, two doors opened, and out came two grey-clad scientists, pulling along a struggling Euthinan between them. He was kicking and screaming, and, although Rose only heard the voice through a stone wall, she knew it belonged to Marigolf.

Catching her eye, Marigolf called out, "Help me! Oh God. Help!"

Rose turned and yelled at Lucas. "What are you doing to him!"

"We're feeding the Wolf, Rosie. You'll see. Oh, you'll see."

And Rose saw. She saw the two scientists open up a door on the cage. The Wolf lashed it's tail. They shoved Marigolf inside, trying to fight back, but his fists were clumsy and heavy. The Wolf, who was slow and sleepy moments prior, suddenly snapped to life. He bared his fangs at Marigolf, and slapped a mighty claw down on top of him.

Rose shut her eyes and turned away, but could still hear Marigolf's scream as the Wolf fed.


	9. He Speaks

"That is sick," shouted Rose, when the Wolf was finished, and Marigolf was gone. The Wolf sat down, licking its paws.

"That's progress," replied Lucas.

"Progress? What progress?" she cried.

Lucas held up a hand for her to shut up. He rushed forward, and put his hands on the bars of the cage, as other workers, humans, brought up a microphone and recording equipment.

The Wolf, hunger satisfied, laid down on its side. After a minute, it began to snore, it's great sides heaving.

"What?" asked Rose, to no one in particular. But nobody paid her any attention. They were focused on the Wolf.

At first, he was only snoring. But, then, the snores got louder, began to sound more complex. And the growling sounds, somehow, became words.

"Six… Three Hundred… Seventy-four-point-one…" the sounds were strangled, barely audible, like the voice of a beast. Or a trained dog.

"Always numbers, first…" Rose heard one of the Euthinan workers comment.

But soon, the Wolf talked louder.

It used words. "A particle… accelerator…"

The voice became sophisticated, "Atom bouncing off atom…"

The voice was talking, like a human would talk. Not just that, but a brilliant human. Like a genius mind stuck inside the body of a monster.

"Atoms disappear… Reappear in the future… The past… It may be possible to travel through Time itself."

Then, the sleep-talking turned into grumbling, and then back into snoring, and the snoring turned into breathing. The spell of awe had been broken.

Lucas shouted at everyone in the room. "I want that analyzed, worked through, listened to, over and over again. Use his words. Use his ideas. Go! Get to work!" Then, as the room bustled with new life, he strutted smugly back to Rose.

"You see?" he said, "This is the future. The Wolf is powerful… and the Wolf is wise. But he can only think and communicate when in a deep sleep. That's the curse of his intelligence. It can only be accessed in a state of subdued consciousness. But we needed his information. The things we can learn from him! He was immune to drugs. Didn't respond to hypnosis. The only way to have him sleep deep enough for speech was to feed him. A good meal that's all he needs. See, isn't that brilliant?"

Rose didn't reply. Instead, a voice rang out over the room. But not the voice of a cheerful robot. The voice of a man. A good man.

"Brilliant, yes. But is it right?" The people in the room all looked about, trying to find the source of the echoing noise.

The voice continued, "Is it worth the lives of all these people?"

The speaker walked through the doorway by the cage, and, as he did, he straightened his bowtie, and shook the dust and dirt from his hair. "The answer is: No. Absolutely not."

"Doctor!" Rose called out, a smile of hope spreading across her face.

"Who the hell are you!" shouted Lucas.

"Oh, me?" he said, walking forward in strong strides, "I'm the Doctor. And it would appear you have a good friend of mine." He broke into a casual demeanor. "Hey, Rose."

"Hi, Doctor!" she cheered.

"But like I said," he continued, turning an icy stare back to Lucas, "You have stolen a very, _very _good friend of mine. And that puts you in a very, _very _bad position."

Lucas backed up, and grabbed Rose by the wrist, dragging her away from the Doctor. "Security!"

"Doctor!" cried out Rose, as security guards swarmed him.

But he was ready. He held up his sonic screwdriver, and instantly, a screeching pulse emanated from it. The computer screens flashed on and off. Lights dimmed and flickered and sparked. More sparks came from every electrical device, as all the technology inside the room went haywire.

And, as everyone was suddenly so occupied by this fiasco, nobody realized that one last thing had happened.

Because, among other things, a sonic screwdriver is best at opening locks. And the biggest lock in the room lay useless on the floor.

The Wolf's cage had come unlocked.

And the sonic screwdriver had awoken him.

But, the room was in chaos! Scientists and employees ran around, trying to quell any upsets, as they added to the long list of disruptions. All the while, the Doctor stood, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his screwdriver at eye level. He looked so calm, a statue in the midst of a hurricane.

And, while Lucas McKendree dashed behind a table to save himself, Rose also took cover. But, from her point under a work table, she could see that the Wolf's cage was open. She could see that the Wolf was angry.

"Doctor! The Wolf!" she cried.

He immediately turned around, and lowered his screwdriver.

The Wolf lashed it's tail, and flexed it's claws. He let out a fearsome cry, which was quite possibly louder and more disruptive than the sonic screwdriver. He pressed his head up against the unlocked door, and it came unhinged, sailing across the room to knock a Euthinan scientist on his back. But the door was too small for the Wolf to come through entirely, so he recoiled, and shoved his body into the entire front wall of the cage. He continued to bang and bash at it, as the room fell into silent horror.

The Doctor just barely made it over to Rose as the Wolf broke free of it's cage.


	10. Rampage

The next few minutes could only be described as utter chaos. The Wolf, freed, angry, and very energetic, rampaged around the room. He smashed into tables, destroyed numerous labs, and flung the workers around, like old rag dolls. (Rose cringed as she heard more than one necks break.)

"Doctor, what is that thing?" Rose whispered, as the Wolf ripped the grand computer from the wall, shattering the screen into a million pieces that rained down upon the room.

"It's a Dralia, I think," he answered, in an equally hushed voice.

"Dralia?"

"Yes. They're usually rather peaceful, native to Euthina. A few years ago, however, they were hunted for their pelts. Hunted to extinction. Or, at least, almost to extinction. This must be one of the last. The thing about Dralia, is that they're very sophisticated, just only towards others of their species. They are only able to communicate with other Dralias. This one must speak in its sleep… And McKendree Industries has been using its ideas to further their own inventions."

"By feeding it innocent Euthinans."

"Quite right—Hush now!" he said, suddenly. "Get behind me."

Most of the Wolf's havoc was wrought at the far end of the room, away from where the Doctor and Rose huddles under the table, but, when everything over there was destroyed, and the scientists were all either dead, eaten, or too well hidden for the Wolf to play with, it made its way torturously back to the end where the Doctor, Rose, Lucas, and one or two other Euthinan workers all took refuge. The Wolf's paws crunched over broken glass and wood as it made its way across the room.

Rose lay there, behind the Doctor, under the table, peering over his shoulders, to see where Lucas McKendree also lay under an adjacent table, looking more panic-stricken than the rest, his chest heaving, and his eyes wide with terror.

"No! No not me!" he shouted, when the wolf swung its head in his direction, baring it's blood-stained teeth. "Go after them! Them! Not me!"

But the Wolf didn't listen to his words, only his voice. Having caught his attention, the Wolf found its victim. It stared at him for a few seconds, recalling weeks of starvation, only to receive one meal, to be put to sleep, having his thoughts stolen. Rose watched the Wolf as he hesitated, imagining what anger he'd have at Lucas McKendree. Rightfully so.

"Doctor what we are going to do?" whispered Rose, peering around his shoulder to glimpse Lucas huddled against the side of the overturned table he'd been using as shelter.

"We wait," he said, moving more so in front of her, as to block her from the Wolf's direction.

"Right," she replied.

But, even as they sat, holding their breaths, under the desk, the Wolf suddenly swung his head in their direction.

"Run!" said the Doctor, pushing Rose out behind him to the other side of the table, where another overturned desk created a small gap. He scrambled out after her, and began to run.

They didn't have very far to go. The room was in shambles, ruined by the force of the sonic blast and the Dralia's rampage. But, Rose and the Doctor managed to pick out a path to a door. The door itself was hidden behind a piece of fallen ceiling tile and dirt (as the entire place was underground), which created a small cave, big enough for Rose and the Doctor to hide under.

Miraculously, the Wolf didn't see where they'd scrambled to, and they both made it safely to the little shelter. Once there, the Doctor frantically pulled out his screwdriver, and began searching for the correct frequency at which to manipulate the particles that kept the door locked.

However, just as he found a successful wavelength, the Wolf found what it was looking for, as well: a target. As the Doctor and Rose made their escape, so did Lucas McKendree, running back towards the opposite wall. But, he'd been able to stay silent and in the shadows, eluding the tiring Wolf. But the sound of the screwdriver caught the beast's attention. And it barreled across the room to them.

The Doctor and Rose didn't have time to even scream, as the Wolf snapped its jaws, and lunged for the Doctor. Rose grabbed onto his arm, but, even as she struggled to hang onto him, the Doctor was ripped from her grasp by the Wolf. Rose cried out, as the great beast whipped it's head around, flung the Doctor in a great arc up into the air.

"Doctor!" she screamed.

If able, the Doctor would have said a thousand things to Rose, just before he was attacked by the Wolf, things he'd taken three lifetimes to figure out. But, he couldn't. It was too late. He was soaring through the air, flying high, hanging, then, suddenly plummeting to the ground. For the split seconds he was still in the air, he had the mental ability to calculate the velocity at which he would hit the ground. Any human would surely die from the force of the Wolf's jaws, alone. And, upon hitting the ground, the Doctor realized that one in one thousand Time Lords would survive the force of the fall.

Rose reached an arm in his direction, and screamed aloud, not caring about hiding from the Wolf, as the Doctor hit the ground with an earth-shattering thud. It was in that moment, that something inside Rose clicked on. Something ignited in her soul, and, fueled with adrenaline, she dashed away from the door, her one chance at safety, and picked up a good-sized piece of stone that had fallen in the Wolf's rampage. She screamed with anger as she hurled it at his head.

"You killed him, you damn beast!" she cried out, bending over for another piece of something to throw, eyes flitting from the Wolf's blood-streaked face to the Doctor's unmoving body, and was about to throw it, when the wolf suddenly did something incredible. It spoke.


	11. You Are The Bad Wolf

"I am sorry," said the Wolf to the astonished Rose. But it wasn't the voice of a monster. Not even an animal. The Wolf spoke with sophistication, the one form of communication that was reserved to go from Dralia to Dralia. It made no sense that Rose could understand its voice, not while it was awake, anyway.

"What?" she said, incredulously, "You're… You're _sorry?_"

"I'm sorry for behaving this way," he replied, sitting down, like a dog would for its master, "I didn't realize who you are, until now."

Rose did not reply, her head reeling from the sudden increase in the level of insanity of the situation.

The Wolf continued. "It is said you are the bravest being in creation. I hadn't noticed until just now. Your courage gives it away, and I am truly blessed to be able to stand in your presence."

Rose thought she heard something shift at he far end of the grand room, perhaps rubble falling, or, hopefully, a worker who'd survived, coming out of hiding to help.

Still, the Wolf spoke, "I am sorry, for behaving this way, in front of you. I am ashamed. Please forgive me." He bowed his head, as if obediently punishing himself.

Rose shook her head. "But… What do you mean? Ashamed for killing people in front of me? What's so… What's so special about me?"

The Wolf's voice, ringing through the air without him even moving his jaws, said, "But, you are the Great Being. The First Dral. You are the Bad Wolf. My people have worshiped your name and image since the beginning of time."

"You… Worshiped me?" Rose said, in a hushed whisper. Feeling her feet unfreeze form her previous fear, she took a step towards the beast.

By way of explanation, the Wolf recited, "The Bad Wolf comes on blue sky-winds, with great hands full of loving sins... Your hair—it's the color of the sun. I should have known it as soon as I saw you. But I was angry and blinded by bloodlust."

Rose didn't know what to say, things were turning so quickly. She didn't know what to belive, who to trust, who to love or hate… But she did know one thing. One thing that filled her head. She saw, unmoving at the feet of the Wolf, the Doctor, eyes closed, chest not showing the slightest evidence of breath.

"You killed the Doctor," she called, furiously. "You raged and you devoured, and you _killed him._" Rose, adrenaline fading to sorrow, felt a tear slip down her cheek.

Just as she spoke these words, she saw something like movement from the Doctor. Hope arose in her heart for a moment, before realization sank in. The movement wasn't life stirring in the Doctor; it was light, forming on his hands and face. He wasn't alive; he was regenerating.

"Not again…" she whispered to herself, as the Doctor's hands began to shimmer with golden light.

The room was silent, Rose not speaking for fear of more tears, the survivors holding their breath in amazement, the Dralia bowing his head in regret. Regret at upsetting his own deity, his Bad Wolf.

The Wolf's voice broke the silence. "This was foretold," he stated, sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry?" Rose asked, in a choked whisper.

The Wolf looked at Rose with pleading eyes. "We Dralias worship with the understanding that, one day, the Bad Wolf will come back to us. But it is said that the Bad Wolf will only return on the day the Last Wolf falls."

"Yeah, well you're not the one who's fallen," replied Rose, venomously, not taking her eyes off the light growing from the Doctor. It would happen any moment, now, the regenerating. Rose braced herself for the worst, for another new Doctor to come into the world. But Rose was surprised by the Wolf's next action. The Wolf bowed his head down close to the Doctor.

He recited, "I am the Last Wolf. My people are all gone. I am truly blessed to be given this sacred duty." He looked at Rose one more time, "Thank you, Bad Wolf. It is time for me to run with the star-wolves at last."

With that, he reached his head down, and touched the Doctor's glowing body with his muzzle. The light did grow brighter, but, instead of shooting out of the Doctor's hands and face, instead of forming a new Doctor, instead of regeneration, the light flowed out of his body altogether. It swarmed into the Wolf, shining brighter than ever, until just looking at the beast hurt Rose's eyes. And, when the light reached its peak, when the entire room was engulfed in the golden sheen, a howl was heard, ringing through the room.

And then it faded. The regeneration was averted. The Doctor was saved. And the Wolf was gone.

Rose rushed forward, and knelt by the Doctor, praying for him to still be alive, to still be himself. "Doctor?" she said, shaking min slightly.

He blinked his eyes open, and they found Rose's.

"Hey," he said to her.

"Hey," she said back.


	12. The Stuff Of Legends

The pre-dawn air smelled fresh and crisp, versus the dank caverns from beneath the surface. They'd only just gotten above ground a few minutes prior, making their way from hallways to caves to tiny dirt tunnels. At last, they managed to discover the tunnel that lead them to the Vanishing point, and they dug right up to the surface, only to be attacked by fond embraces of several sobbing Euthinans.

Mr. Bumble, Lollip, Zool, Winson, and Elish eagerly helped them out of the little holes they'd made in the ground, and lovingly dusted them off, as they smothered them in relived hugs.

"Oh! Oh Doctor! Rose!" cried Lollip, nearly choking the two of them.

"We're so sorry for what we've done… For how we acted," added Elish.

The Doctor, finally free of hugs and kisses, stood straightening his bowtie, and replied, "Its okay. You were sad and angry, and you couldn't help it. You blamed me because you needed someone to blame. You couldn't have known about Tingo."

"But… Doctor…" began Zool. "What happened to Tingo?"

The Doctor exchanged a look with Rose before replying. "Tingo is dead."

A moment passed for this news to sink in, before the wailing began anew among the sensitive life forms of Euthina. They began to sob out of grief, and cry out "Oh, why her!" But this only lasted a moment, before they calmed down, thoughtfulness tainting grief.

After a moment of silence, in which none of them, human or Time Lord or Euthinan, dared to speak, Elish spoke up. "She did get what she deserved." Rose's face dropped, remembering the slight barbaric virtue coveted by the peoples of this place.

"The families of the Vanished have gotten their compensation," added Mr. Bumble.

A thought occurred to the Doctor. "That being said," He turned around to stare into the hole, and continued, "There's someone who you'd like to see."

Then, out of the burrow, came the small, pink hands of Robbit, who was, in turn, hoisted out from under the ground.

"Granddad Bumble!" he cried.

"Robby!" replied Mr. Bumble, as he raced forward to scoop up his grandson. The Doctor looked to Rose, only to see his own smile reflected on her face. Bumble said to them, "You saved my Robby!"

"Of course we did," replied Rose. "We couldn't just leave him down there. There are others, too, who need to be gotten up here. They're still down in the chamber."

"But, why?" asked Zool. "Why would you save Robby for Bumble? And why would you save the others down there? They've done nothing but wrong; they deserve to be made even, not be helped."

Rose almost rolled her eyes, trying to explain. "We don't work like that –"

"Let's just say," said the Doctor, cutting her off, "That I'm still paying off some compensation of my own."

Maybe it was his tone. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. Or, perhaps, it was the way Rose bit her lip and looked away when he said this. Whatever it was, it changed something in the hearts of those few Euthinans, so that, for a moment, none of them could speak.

"Doctor, Rose," said Bumble, still holding Robby on his arm, "You have saved lives tonight. Thank you. Now, go. Rest. Have something to eat and drink. We will finish the job from here.

The Doctor simply nodded, and replied, "Thank you."

With that, he took Rose's hand, and together, they walked away into the rising sun.

**~Reunion~**

Later, they sat perched on a stone beside a mountain river, the early morning sunlight glinting off the water, birdsong arising in the trees. They sat there for a time, watching the sun come up, laughing as rabbit-like creatures flitted out from under rocks across on the other shore, twitching their noses to taste the morning air. Once the sun was shining in the sky, waking up the world, Rose turned to the Doctor, and asked a question that had been on her mind for a while.

"But, Doctor," she said, "The Wolf said that his people worshiped me. How can that be? I've never been here before."

"You really don't remember?" replied the Doctor. "Think back. Satellite Five. Daleks coming to kill us all. I tried to send you away, but you came back, and sent out the message to yourself through time and space. Two words."

"I am the Bad Wolf…" Rose muttered, remembering everything.

"You spread your words farther than you thought. And the Dralias must have picked up on it, your image seeping into their minds and dreams, accompanied by the words "Bad Wolf." You shaped their culture, Rose. You became their goddess. Their Bad Wolf. Because, to the Dralias, the word 'bad' meant 'great,' 'wise,' 'noble…'"

"I was a goddess?" asked Rose, who found herself to be smiling and on the verge of weeping at the same time.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "To them you were. Or, rather… You _were_…"

Rose swallowed. "Was that really the last Dralia?"

"I'm afraid so."

"But… how exactly did it… you know…"

"Die?" finished the Doctor. He proceeded to answer, "Dralias have a conscious opening into their souls. It's what controls their communications. A howl for other species is turned into words with this ability. They can literally open their minds. And that's what the Wolf did. He opened his soul to absorb the regeneration energy. Only, it was too much for him. A Dralia could never support that amount of power. It destroyed him."

"That's horrible."

"But think about it. He died, realizing he's a prophesized figure! Imagine that. Growing up being told stories of the Great Bad Wolf… And actually meeting her. You made his dreams come true, Rose."

Rose smiled at this, feeling less guilty for the Last Wolf's fall. But it didn't quite lift her spirits.

"He still had to die."

"But he died free, Rose. He died happy and free and content. That's all he could have wished for."

The Doctor took Rose's hand, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat for a while longer, watching animals by the river, hearing the stream flowing through the forest, until it was apparent that they could easily stay there forever. However, when the sun was near to its highest point, they stood from the rock, ad made their way back down the mountain.

Walking through the village, they saw many people on the streets, more than usual. No doubt they'd heard of the return of the Vanished people. Some were weeping with joy at the reunion, and some were weeping with sorrow as their hopes were crushed by the news that their loved one was dead. And, as they walked through, heads turned and words were whispered.

"That's them!"

"The bowtie man and the yellow-haired woman."

"They saved everybody, you know."

Rose had half a mind to stop and talk to these people, but easily decided against it. She and the Doctor walked on in silence, until they got to the street corner where they parked the TARDIS. The Doctor opened the door for Rose, and, she was about to step inside, when a noise was heard behind them.

"Doctor! Rose!"

They turned around to see Mr. Bumble, hobbling up the road towards them.

"You're leaving, then?" he asked when he approached them.

"I'm afraid so, Artie, ole pal," the Time Lord replied.

"Won't you come back to visit?" he asked, forlorn.

"Of course we will," the Doctor replied, he and Rose knowing that they probably never would.

"Goodbye, Mr. Bumble," said Rose, shaking his hand in parting and entering the TARDIS, giving one last smile at the strange little planet.

"That's your spaceship, then?" Bumble asked the Doctor, gesturing to the blue box.

"That it is!" replied the Doctor, patting it fondly.

Bumble looked confused. "How does it… move? I see no wings, no feet, no wheels."

The Doctor smiled, and said, "Watch."

He opened the door, and stepped into his TARDIS, leaving Bumble, expectantly backing away from it, afraid for some great display of fire and smoke. However, as the TARDIS dematerialized in front of his eyes, he sighed in wonder, and a broad smile drew itself across his face.

"The stuff of legends, those two are," he muttered to himself as he walked away. "The stuff of legends.

**~THIS CHAPTER IS NOW OVER~**

**Well, if this were an episode of Doctor Who, this would be the end of it. (Not the end of the story though!) I hope you liked that last little bit.**

**I'm not sure how people like this, because my lack of comments is a bit… Evident. This is my story with the most subscribers, but it doesn't have much feedback, or at least, not as much as I'd like!**

**SO REVIEW OR BE EXTERMINATED!**

**Lol Jk, im not a Dalek.**

**Aaaaaaaanyway… I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for the next episode of "Rose's Reunion"!**


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